Amnesia is so Embarrassing!
by Steely Spearmint
Summary: [post-manga/anime] The Usui family was a typical household until sunlight starts to burn Karin. Then, despite all of his efforts to keep Karin's past a secret, Kenta is forced to explain who and what his wife really is after a near-fatal accident. How will Kanon take the news, and what do Karin's newfound abilities mean for her family and the vampire race?
1. Chapter 1

Kenta quietly laid beside Karin for a few moments, enjoying the way their bodies fit together after several years of cuddling in the same bed, before carefully scooting just far enough away to stretch without disturbing her. He checked the clock sitting on the bookshelf by the curtained window. 6:38 a.m. The dirty blonde smiled to himself since he could relax for a good twenty minutes before he needed to get up and prepare for his classes.

Oh, and make sure that Kanon was up in time for her own school schedule. At least it was Thursday so Kenta and Karin didn't have to get up even earlier than usual because of their daughter insisting that she needed to go to the homework-checking club. Kanon was very smart in some subjects but struggled a little in others so, despite the odd hours, the homework-checking club was a great way for her to make sure her assignments were completed properly if her parents couldn't help her.

"Mmmn... Kenta...?"

"I'm right here." Kenta hummed as Karin sighed and buried her face in his chest. "We still have some time."

"Kaay." Karin looked up at him with half-opened eyes and smiled softly. "Maybe not - Kanon's up."

Kenta listened. "How can you..." he trailed off as he heard quick footsteps padding down the hallway toward the kitchen. Even though Karin was no longer recognized as a vampire she obviously wasn't human - her hearing and night vision were better than his, and if one looked closely they would see that her ears were slightly pointed.

6:57 a.m.

"I'm going to go ahead and get up." Kenta stretched again before slipping out from under the covers and grabbing a fresh school uniform from his half of the closet. "Want me to open the window?"

Karin frowned a bit. "Nuu."

The dirty blonde chuckled a little but only pushed back the curtains a little so he had enough light to find his way to the bathroom.

"Ahh...!"

Kenta turned to see his wife rubbing her wrist. "Did you sleep on it wrong?"

"I hope that's all I did; I'm working extra at Julian today." Karin stretched and winced a little as her right arm passed through the sliver of light coming through the window on its way to the space above her head.

Kenta nodded. "Kanon and I'll make dinner tonight then."

"You don't have to -"

"I want to do something for you since you always make bento boxes for us." There was no way Karin wouldn't let him prepare dinner now since he had a good point.

True to form, Karin agreed to the arrangement and got dressed after Kenta left the bathroom, joining her family in the brightly lit kitchen for a quick breakfast before sending them on their way with schoolbags and bentos in hand.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

_"Mister Kenta-san, would you mind coming to pick up Karin-san? She passed out a little while ago."_

"She what?!" the dirty blonde's exclamation drew a few looks but no one questioned him because the call came in the middle of a passing period. Kenta was extremely glad that he'd forgotten to put his cell phone on vibrate or he'd never have noticed it going off.

_"She's not hurt - one of the kitchen staff caught her - but she doesn't look well."_

"I'll come over right away. Thank you for calling."

Kenta had no idea how Julian's manager could deal with his and Karin's somewhat erratic schedules but he was grateful that the older man kept them employed and let them help out whenever he needed some extra hands. The dirty blonde left the college campus as quickly as he could.

* * *

_[Edited 7/24/14]_


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing Karin noticed was how comforting the darkness was - the last thing she'd seen was the sun glaring through a window and directly into her eyes as she crossed Julian's kitchen to pick up an order for one of the diners... No! She tried to sit up and yelped in surprise when something soft but damp slipped over her eyes and nose.

"Karin, it's just a wet rag. You're burning up and I thought it would help."

"I... I am?" the former vampire started when the rag was removed, revealing Kenta's very concerned face. "Uhh, then why's everything making me itch like I have a bad sunburn?"

Kenta leaned over her to reach the lamp on his nightstand. "Let me turn on the light and see if you did get burned - it may be some weird side effect of heatstroke."

Karin nodded but was unable to speak because her eyes had suddenly locked onto the vein pulsing just a little faster than normal on the side of his neck. Her husband must be pretty worked up because of her accident...maybe, if she could bi-

"OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWWW!"

The couple gaped at the large, dark burns appearing wherever the light from the lamp touched Karin's skin until Karin started flailing her arms around out of sheer terror and knocked the lamp to the floor.

"What's wrong with me?!"

"I don't know, but I'll try to find out." Kenta gently pulled his now sniffling wife into a hug. "And before you ask...yes, I'll still love you no matter what happens."

"Kenta...thank you."

Although the dirty blonde seemed focused solely on making sure Karin was all right his mind was in a whirl. Why was Karin's skin burned when it was exposed to any kind of light, and what had caused her to pass out at Julian?

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Anju Maaka had noticed Karin's accident at work (thanks to the bats she used to watch over her sister) but wasn't able to focus on it due to a more pressing problem - a problem taking the shape of the much older male vampire that was attempting to court her. She'd been unable to do anything except watch Kenta look after his wife since the sunlight forced her to stay indoors, but then came the primping and pampering that always came before a potential mate arrived. Why couldn't her parents find a bachelor that wasn't at least twice as old as she was? She'd be a widow within ten years and then the whole process would begin again, except that she'd be stuck in her late husband's formal parlor instead of her parents'.

"Miss Maaka-san, at least consider-"

The silver-haired girl cut him off with a tried wave of her hand. "You haven't said anything that's new to me. Leave now before I help you."

Startled and a bit miffed, the potential suitor quickly rose and left the room.

"Aaaand _cut!_" Boogie cackled as soon as the door had slammed shut. "What a windbag! He would have gone on forever if you hadn't done something, Anju!"

"I know."

"...its Karin, isn't it?"

Anju frowned at the blue-haired doll. "Yes. She fell while working and I'd like to know if she's all right as soon as possible."

"Even though you'll get in trouble if your pa-" Boogie's mouth was squeezed shut just as Calera Maaka strode into the room with a dark expression on her face. Anju knew the rest of her family was uncomfortable with the way she used her 'special talent,' but that they'd also be furious if they knew that she was taking counsel from the possessed dolls.

"Yes, mother?"

Calera's expression softened slightly into what could almost be described as disappointment. "Why are you being so picky, Anju? Your father and I can only ask so many vampires before word gets out that you're being uncooperative."

"I'm not being uncooperative, I'm just more interested in someone who is closer to my age."

_"And loves you as much as Kenta loves Karin." _Boogie's voice whispered at the fringes of Anju's consciousness until she shifted her grip from his mouth to his neck. He was the only one who really knew that the youngest Maaka was jealous of the happiness that Karin had found when she'd gotten to know Kenta and loved to remind Anju that even the youngest of her suitors lacked that key requirement.

Calera gave Anju her usual speech about 'needing to play her very important role in the survival of the vampire race' and 'doing some searching on her own if she wanted more say in who could see her' before leaving in a huff, most likely to complain to Henry.

As soon as her mother was gone Anju jumped up from her chair and ran outside, cloaking herself and Boogie with bats so they could fly through the city unnoticed. It was nearly dawn but she could make a quick run by Karin and Kenta's house while looking for food.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

_Day 526: Japan - 35th day_

_Maybe my parents' stories have some credibility - I just caught sight of a silver-haired girl wearing a black Lolita dress (no really, that's what it looks like - I'm not a pervert! (Why did I write that when no one besides me is going to read this?)) flying by, but concealed from the humans by a cloud of bats. She's powerful; I could barely see through her cover, but there was enough to prove that she's not a reflection of someone inside the cafe with me. Maybe she's a descendant of the vampires that were driven out of Europe? More investigation tomorrow - I'm tired and need to stay awake enough to remember how to thank my waitress and pay for the meal. (Yen are kind of confusing to use still. Maybe the waitress would help me if I don't mess up my pronunciation.)_

* * *

_[Edited 7/24/14]_


	3. Chapter 3

"Are you okay, Anju?" Boogie asked.

"Yes."

"Reeally?"

"Boogie." Anju shushed the doll so her human target wouldn't notice her presence. Kenta was doing a good job of caring for Karin, as expected, so she'd gone ahead and done a little hunting before the sun came up.

Someone had been watching her, though. She was sure of it - the first time hadn't been as noticeable because she'd been in a more crowded part of the city, but as she'd ventured further away from civilization the same feeling returned for a few minutes.

_"There."_

Anju quickly checked to see where the bat that had spoken to her was looking before whirling to face...nothing.

"Who was it?"

"I think...another vampire."

"You'd know if it was, or your parents would've sensed them and told them to get lost."

_"But this one was different somehow."_ Anju almost said as she placed the possessed doll in a nearby tree. "Forget it, Boogie-kun. I'm hungry and time is running out. Stay here."

"Don't forget me this time~" the doll cackled.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Kanon looked around as she walked through the front door of her family's home, groceries in one hand while she felt her way along the wall with the other. she really wanted to turn on a light switch or open a window, but she didn't want to hurt Karin on accident like she had the day before.

...

_The youngest Usui had quickly let her friends know she was skipping soccer club because she was needed at home before racing through the school and off of campus, not even thinking about riding the bus home until she had to collapse on a bench about a block from her street. After two minutes and a long drink from her water bottle, she was off again. _

_ "Mom?! Dad?!" Her hand instinctively reached for the light switch so she didn't trip over a step on her way to the living room but a sudden yelp of pain made her stop cold. She looked over at her mother just in time to see a charred black patch appear on Karin's already lobster-red arm._

_ Kenta practically appeared out of thin air and slammed his hand down on the light switch, plunging the room into darkness again. "Kanon, your mom's developed a condition that results in her getting burned if she's exposed to light of any kind. I'm sorry, but we'll just have to make do with no lights in the house until we're able to figure out what's wrong with her. In the meantime, would you mind helping out by doing some of the chores that we won't be able to do?"_

_ The youngest Usui was stunned. She knew that school would keep her from doing everything her parents needed help with but there was nothing wrong with trying, right? "I can do my best," she found herself saying. "I'll even try to get all of my homework done early so I can spend a day helping our family adjust to living like this."_

_ "Kaanon! Thank you! I'm so proud of you for doing such a big favor!" Karin hugged her daughter tightly despite the pain from her burns rubbing against fabric. _

_..._

Kanon had been true to her word about finishing her homework early, so her parents allowed to skip school once to help Karin while her dad went to classes and worked. Even though Kenta - who was one of the managers of a moving company as well as a part-time Julian employee - didn't have to work as many hours as he used to, he still had to keep his grades up. The Usuis' daughter didn't mind helping out at all now (she knew how much her dad loved her mom) but the new rule about not letting any light into the house was a little problematic for her. What kind of sickness did Karin have?

"Mom?"

"In the kitchen~! Did you find everything we needed at the store?"

"I did. Thanks for letting me help you make dinner," Kanon suddenly yelped as she missed a step and fell.

Karin darted out of the kitchen and easily caught her daughter and the groceries before anything was damaged. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a little breathless. I wish I could have just a little..."

"Saying 'light' won't burn me." Karin smiled a little but there was a touch of sadness in it. "I'm feeling better already. Now, let's make some donburi!"

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Once lunchtime came around, Kenta devoured his bento faster than usual. He needed plenty of time to get to a place he hadn't been to in a while and back. Shoving the now empty bento box into his backpack, the dirty blonde got to the bus stop just in time to hop inside one of the vehicles before it drove off. He checked his pocket for the envelope again - it was still there; he could feel the comforting weight of several sheets of paper that explained why he was contacting a certain group of...people again and the peculiar condition that Karin had developed.

* * *

_[Edited 7/24/14]_


	4. Chapter 4

_Day 527: Japan - 36th day (I think)_

_I didn't think they'd catch me this fast - I was even Shielded so they shouldn't have been able to tell what I am. The lolicon must have told whoever she lived with - I'm sure one of her bats saw me - no, I'm not a creeper even though I did follow her a little - because the man who captured me was awfully quick about taking me to his nest. I wonder what they're (the two older adults) want with me; I'm just sitting here wai_

"Hey, give that back!" The young man with dark, tousled hair reached for the journal but Ren pushed him back to the ground and summoned some bats to re-bind the other's legs and arms together.

"I don't think so." The vampire casually turned the moleskine journal over in his hands, examining it for anything interesting, before flipping through the pages. Ren Maaka frowned a little when he saw that the entire thing was written in English - he'd never taken that language seriously during the short time he'd spent at a human school, but he did recognize a few of the words. I, me, they, what, am, the...lolicon... "Writing something a little risqué?"

"I didn't mean for it to sound like it was!"

Calera Maaka came back into the spare bedroom that was acting as a cell for the person her son found. "What's going on now, Ren?"

"He won't talk, but I caught him writing in this. Here, dad."

Henry, who had followed his wife into the room, caught the journal easily. "What is it..." He asked as he flipped through it, frowning on occasion. "...Sil-vee-you Van-deer-wolf?"

"It's Silviu Van Derwolfe - 'wolfe' said as 'volfe' - and that's my journal, so give it back!"

Henry Maaka couldn't help but smile a little as he dropped the journal by the young man's feet. "See? Telling me who you were wasn't so hard."

"Not until you tell us who you are and what you're doing here." Calera glared at Silviu until she realized what her husband had done. "Henry!"

"We need to show him that we're willing to treat him well if he cooperates!"

"Mother, Father, Kenta's here about big sister. And welcome back, big brother." Anju walked into the room as if she owned the place, not even looking at Silviu when he gave a small gasp in recognition and surprise.

_"So the loli- she lives here, and this is her family. But who is this 'Kenta' and her big sister? More family, perhaps?"_

Calera nodded. "We'll be down in a minute, Anju. Our 'guest' is still choosing to be uncooperative."

Silviu frowned but said nothing.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Kenta didn't sit down even after Anju left the room to find her parents - he was so nervous that it was hard for him to not start pacing in agitation. What if something happened to Karin and he wasn't there to make sure that their daughter and the paramedics remembered her condition? What if, what if, what if...

"Hello, Kenta!" Henry greeted the human as he came down the stairs. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, but Karin's the one that I'm worried about."

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Kanon smiled at her mom, who was curled up under a blanket on the couch, fast asleep. They'd had a nice lunch of donburi, with chocolate ice cream for dessert, and had started watching _Star Wars_ (with Japanese subtitles on, of course) before Karin decided she needed to take a nap. The timing was perfect. Kanon wanted to surprise her parents with dinner since Karin's condition had put a lot of stress on everyone.

The youngest Usui quietly stood up and tiptoed into the kitchen, checking to make sure she had all of the ingredients needed for onigiri and salad. They would be easy enough for her to make.

After wiping off the counter with a wet rag, Kanon retrieved a cutting board, a bowl, a large knife, lettuce, and tomatoes. "Hmm..." Then she remembered how Kenta liked a few carrots tossed in and got a couple of big, fat ones from the fridge. Carefully picking the knife up, Kanon sliced up the ingredients and mixed them together in the bowl.

"The carrots don't look the same as mama's... Oh!" She laughed to herself as she realized that the bright orange veggies needed to be sliced as well. At least that was the only problem with her salad, and pretty easy to fix.

Or so she thought.

"Damnit!" Kanon hissed without thinking, then quickly glanced over her shoulder to make sure that Karin was still asleep and hadn't heard her. "Carrots are horrible to slice!" She threw the rest of the carrot away before taking the knife to the sink and thoroughly washing it. It had been a clean cut but her finger still bled a lot even though the wound was pretty shallow. "Now, where were the Band-Aids?"

_-Embarrassment!-*'

"Damnit!"

A groggy Karin wondered where in the world her daughter had learned that word when a delicious smell suddenly flooded her nose with a sweet but coppery scent... She found herself practically drooling. What was Kanon making for dinner? Karin had to find out. With a stealthiness she never knew she possessed, Karin slipped off of the couch and crept to the kitchen only to find her daughter wrapping a bandage around a finger.

"Don't...!"

"Mama?!"

* * *

_[Edited 7/24/14]_


	5. Chapter 5

"Kanon... I'm so sorry," Karin hid her face in her hands. Hopefully her daughter hadn't seen the fangs poking out of her gums - how did she know that she had fangs, anyway? "I have no idea what came over me..."

Before she knew it her daughter was hugging her tightly. "It's okay, mama. You're sick. Why don't you go back to sleep?"

"That sounds like a good idea. I know you'll look after things while I'm asleep since you're already making dinner."

Kanon faked a happy chuckle. "It was supposed to be a surprise and a thank-you for you and dad since you've let me help out."

"How sweet~! I have such a good little girl! Kenta will love it!"

"Thanks!" The younger Usui felt a lot better about herself as she gave her mom a gentle squeeze before letting go. "Now go rest." She shooed Karin out of the room before leaning heavily against a wall, trembling slightly. Something was definitely wrong - she could've sworn she saw _fangs_ sliding out of her mom's gums before her parent quickly slapped the Band-Aid over the cut on her finger and covered the elongated incisors. "Maybe dad will know what's going on. He's already late." She realized as she looked at the clock.

Quickly recovering her wits, Kanon went back to finishing dinner.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Kenta got off the bus about a block from his home, figuring that finishing the trip on foot would be good stress relief. He'd stayed at the Maaka mansion even after he should've returned to class, trying to help them figure out what was going on with Karin without success until Anju suggested that her older sister may be finally turning into a vampire. The poor girl's idea had been immediately shot down by Ren but Henry and Calera hesitated to deny that it was a possibility. From what Kenta had described on paper and in person, Karin was showing all the signs of a vampire in the process of becoming a true creature of the night. They'd warned Kenta to be extra careful in case his wife was still partial to her old blood preference of unhappiness, as well as to keep an eye on Karin in case she went through some of the same changes soon.

Therefore, the Maakas' logic was really why he was traveling on foot.

"Karin? Kanon? I'm home," the dirty-blonde called softly as he opened the front door and stepped inside.

"Dad!"

"Kanon! Watch where you're waving that knife!" Kenta managed as he carefully moved the sharp blade away from his neck before hugging his daughter. "Sorry I'm late, I was helping a friend."

"It's okay, I made dinner for everyone! If you haven' t eaten yet..."

Just the mention of food made Kenta's stomach growl hungrily. "I'm in. Is Karin going to join us?"

"She's asleep, but she wanted to."

"All right, I'll wake her up while you set the table. Does that sound fair?"

Karin beamed. "Yes, daddy! I'll go do it right now!"

Kenta chuckled a little at his daughter's enthusiasm and energy, so much like Karin's and Sophia's...now there was a name he hadn't recalled in a while. He wondered why he was thinking of the first pushuke as he strode to his and Karin's room. Maybe it was because some part of him wanted to see if she knew what was going on with Karin.

"Karin?"

"Mmn...?" the dirty blonde's wife stirred a little, her nose twitching as if she was about to sneeze.

"Want to wake up? It's dinnertime."

"Dinner..."

Kenta waited until Karin opened her eyes before nodding. "Yeah. Kanon said you wanted to try and eat with us."

"Okay," Karin smiled and rubbed her eyes a little, blushing cutely even though Kenta couldn't see it in the dark. "Pick me up?"

Now how could he say no? Kenta carefully scooped Karin up in his arms, careful to make sure that she had her arms wrapped around his neck securely before standing upright.

"Thanks... I'm still sleepy."

"No problem."

But it could actually be a problem - Anju had mentioned that Karin's sleep schedule could completely flip if she was adapting to a nighttime lifestyle, and it was only 7:30...

An almost-forgotten but familiar pair of pricks on his neck told Kenta all he needed to know and more. He gasped but one of Karin's hands quickly covered his mouth so he settled for sitting down before blood loss caused him to collapse.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Beads of sweat rolled off the tip of Silviu's nose as he focused all of his energy on loosening the bats that bound him. "Just...a...little...m-more... Ah-!" he gasped as he gave one final twist and yanked his arms and legs free, the black mass of bats holding the shape of his bonds for a few more seconds before scattering. It had been a long time since he'd even attempted to control bats, never mind break someone else's control over them, but his recent triumph gave him confidence. If he could quickly find an escape route, he'd be out of the manor and on the streets before the bats could alert their owner - the sunlight still stung, but he had just enough human blood in his veins to prevent being burned to a crisp.

...

The Maakas must be sleeping pretty soundly - they had been up rather late trying to interrogate him, and he'd heard them going to bed after Kenta left, so he'd be fine unless the sun was already setting.

Silviu was getting frustrated though. Every window was too boarded up for even his almost- vampire strength to bust through, and he got turned around enough that he didn't recognize where he'd already-

"A staircase?! Finally!" He snuck down the stairs as quickly as possible and was about to bust out the front door when he was suddenly tacked from behind by a very compact but strong force.

They didn't even bother to turn him over, deciding to sit (or stand) on his back and gloat. "Ohohohh~ thought you could get away that easily, huh? It's a good thing that I woke up when I did!"

"...Mama?" Silviu blanched when he heard Henry Maaka's half-yawn from the direction of the staircase. He'd been taken down by an old woman?!

"Well who else would it be, darling!?" Elda Maaka frowned, the height gained by standing on Silviu's back making her even more imposing than normal.

* * *

_[Edited 7/24/14]_


	6. Chapter 6

Karin closed her eyes in pleasure, relishing the thick, rich, metallic liquid flooding her mouth and filling her stomach. She managed a small hum and pressed herself against Kenta's torso, rubbing his back to let him know she still had control over herself, that she wouldn't take too much.

_"Mom..."_

"I'm Karin, silly." Karin pulled away enough to softly murmur in Kenta's ear before gently licking the blood that continued to gently dribble from her husband's neck. She felt perfectly calm and content even though she could tell she'd taken more than she should've...how strange. Why should she feel concern for the amount of blood that she took from a human?

"Mom- Daddy?!"

Kanon stared at the scene before her in shock. Her own mother was crouched over her daddy's neck, drinking... She almost hurled at the thought but focused on keeping a grip on her cell phone in case she needed to call for help. "What did you do to daddy...?" she heard herself ask, but her voice sounded muted and far away.

"I'm... Oh God, Kanon...! Sweetie, I can explai-"

"No you can't! You have no idea what you just did, I could tell! G-Get away from me!" Karin had quickly collected herself and started toward her daughter but Kanon's words made her pause.

"Then Kenta can tell us when he wakes up! You want to see if he knows anything as much as I do, right?!"

"So you were lying about knowing what was wrong with you..." Kanon kept moving backward and nearly yelped when she found the front door with a shoulder. "You...You tell daddy what you did to him and then have him call me - I'm... I'm leaving! Don't follow me, you _monster!_"

"Kanon!"

Kanon shrieked in fear and bolted outside before her mother could get close enough to grab her, gripping her cell phone so tightly that she could feel the plastic shift under her fingers. It was still light enough that Karin couldn't chase after her, which was comforting, but now she had to figure out how to get to Mrs. Maki's before dark.

Wait...Karin would immediately go to Mrs. Maki's because she knew that Kanon would run there first. And there was always the chance that Mrs. Maki or her husband would call Karin even if she made them promise not to - Mrs. Maki and Karin had been best friends since forever, after all. Maybe she should go to one of her school friend's houses instead.

"Oomph!"

"..."

Kanon shook her head a little and looked up at the pale, silver-haired girl in an old-fashioned black dress with a matching parasol that she kept open over her head. She looked like a living china doll, but was certainly much sturdier - she'd barely wobbled when Kanon ran into her. And she looked strangely familiar...

"You're Kanon Usui?"

"Yes, but how do you know my-"

"Your father, Kenta Usui, told me. I know about your mother's condition because he asked me to help your family." That wasn't really true but Anju didn't feel like a little lying would be a bad thing.

"I don't want to go back... Mama...she...she..."

"Then come with me. I'll take you somewhere safe."

Not knowing what else to do, Kanon took the tiny hand being offered to her and let herself be pulled up off the pavement. If daddy trusted this strange little girl with private information, then it would most likely be in her best interest to listen to her.

...

"An abandoned shrine?"

The girl nodded. "Believe it or not, this is one of the safest places in the city. Your father used to live here with your grandmother as well."

"Really?" Kanon looked around but the shrine showed no signs of someone else living in it recently. Maybe that had been before her parents were married.

Her parents...

Anju looked back at Kanon as she started to sniffle. "What exactly were you running from, by the way?" She already knew - thanks to her bats - but she had heard that talking about one's problems with another made them seem easier to deal with.

"...Mama..."

Everything came out in a rush, along with fresh streams of tears. Karin's sickness, the dinner incident (which was actually new to Anju) and Kanon looking for her parents when Kenta hadn't come down to dinner.

Anju awkwardly patted Kanon's shoulder as she listened and waited to speak her piece. Her niece wasn't going to like what she was planning but it had to be done in order for her and Karin to understand what was going on. "Kanon, I must bring your parents here as well. We all have a lot of explaining to do."

"Please, no...!"

"Anju."

Kanon suddenly pulled the smaller girl back from the entryway. "Miss Anju, please don't! I don't want to face them after what happened...and after what I said to mama..." she added softly.

"You said what you did out of ignorance, and I refuse to explain the same thing several times to different people. Bi- Your mother won't harm anyone here since I'll be around."

"...Okay then..."

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Elda grinned when Henry couldn't come up with a decent comeback. "Just fill me in and I won't wake up the whole house."

"Too late."

"...Oh, you're still here, Calera?"

Henry's wife frowned. "Of course."

"Good for you then."

Silviu wondered if he could use the family feud to his advantage but quickly lost that train of thought when Elda stepped off of him, pulled him up by his collar so they were eye-to-eye...and sniffed him. He may have taken her actions an entirely different way if she'd actually looked like she was old enough to have grandchildren, but since Elda appeared to be in her late teens he found himself blushing.

"Whaaaaa-oomph!" Silviu hit the ground hard but managed to scramble backward until he was far out of reach. "The hell?! Did my cologne wear off or offend you or something?!"

"How does something like you exist?! Henry, you bad, bad boy!" Elda smacked the back of her very alarmed son's head while an equally surprised Calera looked on. "Well, I shouldn't have expected you two to be able to tell exactly what he is, but still!"

"But mama..." Henry sniffled.

"No buts! We need to find out how that hybrid - where'd he go?"

As soon as the Maakas were distracted Silviu had made his escape out the front door and into the twilight-lit city beyond. Maybe he'd be able to get back to his hotel room and gather his few possessions before finding a new place to lie low until the Maakas figured out how to track him down. The other vampire hybrid with the big, curly pigtails and round glasses that he'd met while traveling across the Chinese mainland had said the vampires in Japan were pretty unusual and knew about hybrids, after all. That was why she was leaving, and it was all she'd said on the matter. Of course he then fed on her and erased her memories of him - the memory trick was a good one and something he'd always wanted to do since he saw his stepbrother use it, but it took a lot of energy.

"Ohohohohh~! There he is! I'm cooming for yoouu, little hybrid~!"

Silviu nearly had a heart attack but managed to pick up the pace. Now he had to lose the crazy old lady and her family.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Kenta woke to the sound of muffled sobs and the extra warmth from somebody lying beside him. He was now lying down on something soft instead of slumped against a wall as well. "Ka...rin...?"

The surface that he was lying on shifted a little as the person lying beside him jumped in surprise. "Kenta... Kenta, I'm sorry! Uwaah, I'm so sorry!"

"Can't...breathe..."

Karin loosened her hold on her husband so her arms were simply draped around him but continued to cry into his shoulder. "She called m-me a monster..."

"Who?"

"Kanon... A-And then s-she left..."

The dirty-blonde held the now fully-fledged vampire close, not quite sure what to say. "I'll talk to her when you've calmed down and she's come back, okay?"

"...Okay..."

Great. Not only did he nearly die from blood loss, but Karin had become a true vampire and their daughter knew that Karin reeally liked blood. Kenta had a lot of explaining to do...

_Knock, knock._

"ANSWER IT! NO, I'LL GET IT - IT COULD BE OUR KANON!"

"Oww..." Kenta pulled himself off of the floor and shakily rose to his feet. Apparently newborn vampires came with super strength as well.

The dirty-blonde rushed to the front door as quickly as he could only to find Anju and Karin staring at each other in surprise. "Oh, hello, Anju."

"Hello, Kenta."

Karin paled. "Her...name is..."

"Karin, it's all right, she's just a friend."

"But I know her! I know I do! Who are you?!"

Anju's expression softened and her eyes seemed to get a little moist at the corners. "I can't tell you that yet. Kenta, catch her when she falls."

Kenta was about to question why when Anju suddenly flung up her arm and used one of the bats in her sleeve to knock Karin unconscious.

"I apologize, but she could go mad if she remembers me before big brother gives her back her memories. Kanon is all right - she is at the shrine you stayed at for a time, and we all should go there. I will call big brother and have him meet us there as well."

* * *

_[Edited 7/24/14]_


	7. Chapter 7

Ren stayed in his room until he was sure that the rest of his family had left before sauntering downstairs. He had no interest in seeing his grandmother and ending up in an awkward conversation about his new family anytime soon - Bridget was wanting him to come home so he could take care of Rei after she had their second baby.

On second thought, maybe six months with his grandmother would be better than spending the same amount of time with a hormonal wife.

As if on cue, the cell phone in his pocket started to vibrate. Ren automatically flinched before remembering that only two people had his new number.

"Big brother, Karin needs her memories back."

"Why?"

"Kenta and I were correct - she's a true vampire. She can be one of us now."

Ren sighed in relief. Now he had an excuse for Bridget and Rei if they managed to find him. "It would be nice to have that clumsy, noisy sister of ours back, wouldn't it."

The sound Anju made was soft but clearly a small sniffle.

"Where did you take them?"

"The temple we allowed the Usuis to use for a time. Kenta's better now but Karin is still unconscious. Little niece is scared but I told her that she needed to stay with her parents if she wanted answers."

Ren nodded, then remembered that Anju wouldn't be able to see the motion. "What happened?"

"Meet me outside and I'll explain."

_-Embarrassment!-*'

_Day ?: Japan - ?th day _

_Ugggh, I'll pull out my calendar and figure out the dates later. Later being as soon as I'm sure I escaped the crazy old (but young-looking) Elda Maaka. She can tell I'm a hybrid - the other hybrid I met in China was right about these Japanese vampires being unusual. I wish I'd pushed her more when it came to whether they knew if there was a psyche in the area as well. My mom said that those descended directly from the original psyche would be much more powerful than regular vampires, so if I find one I should be able t _

"Why do you guys happen to catch me every time I update my journal?!"

"I don't know, but the thing must hold valuable information if you take the time to write in it as often as possible," Elda grinned as she flipped the pages back and forth. "Western books look so weird to me now..."

Silviu blanched and strained against Henry and Calera's arms even more. "You can read it?!"

"Of course I can. I know quite a few languages."

This was not good at all. Silviu had tried to write in that journal every day since the last of his family passed away, and the first four pages contained a carefully written summary of who he was and what his newfound goals were now that he was completely uprooted from his ancestral home. If an ordinary human found and read it they'd think he was an aspiring writer, but if a vampire or anyone with knowledge of vampires picked it up...

He watched Elda's expression turn from triumph to solemn to absolutely unreadable as she took in the detailed summary of the past two years of his life.

"Mama...?" Henry tentatively asked after at least five minutes of silence.

"There are still vampires left in Europe?"

"What?!"

Silviu shook his head, knowing exactly where the eldest Maaka was in his journal. "Not many, but there are plenty of hybrids like me wandering around. We're called dhampirs where I come from, actually. That's why I started searching for a psyche."

"A psyche?" Calera asked.

"Oh wait, you call it a pushuke...I think. These day-walking vampires that can make other vampires."

"..."

Silviu couldn't help but grin at the stunned silence. "You know one?! Great! All I want is-"

"She doesn't exist anymore!" Henry cut Silviu off just as Elda slapped Silviu with the journal. Calera hissed angrily and gripped Silviu's arm so tightly that he thought it was going to break, then held his head up so Elda could hit him again. "And they can't directly make other vampires!"

"Yes...they can! Ow! Let me explain-!"

"If I hear one more thing about pushukes I'll kill you! They _don't_ exist anymore, and they _don't _make other vampires!"

"Oh yes they do, which is why we have to kill the dhampir...and now you! Hand him and his journal over and I'll consider having your throats slit instead of stuffing you with silver bullets!"

All eyes turned to the three black-clad figures standing in the doorway, guns cocked and ready to fire. They were clearly vampire hunters even though their uniforms bore little resemblance to the long black and white tunics that Elda remembered.

"The name's Silviu! Stop calling me 'the dhampir!' How're you going to be able to tell me and another hybrid apart if you call both of us 'the dhampir!?'"

"Weeeeeell, practice makes perfect, dhampir!" the leader laughed. "The same sort of practice that helps us follow you so effortlessly now!"

The intensity of the Maakas' glares could've incinerated Silviu. "THEY WERE FOLLOWING YOU THIS WHOLE TIME?!"

"I DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE - I THOUGHT I LOST THEM! I'M SORRY!"

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Ren shook his head in disbelief. "All right, let's get this over with," he sighed as he strode into the shrine and looked for Karin. Since the building wasn't very big the task was quickly completed; he found his sister lying in Kenta's arms near the back wall.

"Kenta."

"Ren." Kenta nodded and offered a polite smile, which wasn't returned. "It's been a while. You're doing well, I guess?"

"It has been, and I am. Go sit with your kid while I see to Karin." The vampire gently took Karin and set her on the ground before kneeling beside her, placing a hand that was emanating a strange yellow-green glow over her face.

"What's he doing?" Kanon asked Kenta when her dad chose to sit beside her.

"Giving Karin her memories back, I think."

"Her memories?"

"Yeah. You could say that she had a bad case of amnesia and forgot almost everything about her past. Her family did it to protect her, but now that she's changed she can remember everything again."

"You let them do that to her?!"

"I didn't even know they were going to do it until they asked me to take Karin in since she'd be pretty much homeless."

"And he did a good job of taking care of big sister for us," Anju appeared on Kanon's other side, her face as expressionless as usual.

"...Big sister?"

The pale-haired girl nodded as Ren walked over, then looked up at him. "how is she?"

"She'll be awake pretty soon but I'll leave before she does."

"But big bro-"

"You know she won't be to thrilled to see me." Anju thought she saw a hint of regret in Ren's eyes as he took his cell phone out of his pocket and held a button down to use speed dial. "I will let mom and dad know she's coming around though."

_Riiing._

_ Riiing._

_ Riiing._

_ Riiing._

_ Rii- Moshi moshi, this is Henry Maaka's phone. I'm sorry that I can't talk to you now, but leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible!"_

_ Beep~_

Ren and Anju looked at each other and frowned. Getting their father's answering machine was a rare occurrence. Maybe Ren just happened to call when Henry was talking to someone about the next vampire meeting?

"What's wrong?" Kenta asked the pair.

"Nothing yet. Big brother will try to reach papa again."

Ren nodded and waited a couple of minutes before redialing.

_Riiing._

_ Riiing._

"I guess it's pretty unusual for my...grandpa to not answer his phone?" Kanon still couldn't believe that she had a grandfather or an aunt that looked about her age, but the idea of having more family members was starting to grow on her.

"Yes. Not very many people have his contact information."

Ren suddenly held up a hand for silence, his eyes narrowing angrily. "Who is this?" He paused for a moment before pulling the cell phone away from his ear and putting it on speaker. "You're on speaker, not like anyone but me is here to hear you."

_"Good,"_ a man's voice with a foreign accent chuckled.

"What do you want?"

_"The pushuke."_

Kanon looked around and opened her mouth to ask what the pushuke was but Kenta shook his head in warning.

"The pushuke is gone."

_"The pushuke is anything but. And I want her in two days, or the vampire adults in my 'care' will be left in the sun to burn. Understand...Ren? It is Ren, yes? I'm relying on caller ID."_

"It is." Ren rolled his eyes. "How do I know that you're really holding vampires captive?"

The voice was muted for a moment before a gunshot suddenly burst through the phone's tiny speaker, followed by a loud yelp.

_"Henry, don't be such a crybaby!"_

_ "But they almost shot my foot!"_

_ "Uggh, Ren, don't worry about us - I'll take matters into my own hands and - hey!"_

_ "...Good enough for you?"_

Ren growled.

_"I'm guessing it is then. We are at the pretty shabby hotel about two blocks south of the airport, got it?"_

"Yes."

_"Then Karl Loft, vampire hunter, signing off!"_

There was a crunching noise, and then a silence momentarily broken by a dial tone before Ren ended the call. Even Kanon had been able to tell that Henry Maaka's phone had been crushed under a heavy boot.

* * *

_[Edited 7/24/14]_


	8. Chapter 8

Karl Loft smirked at his new captives, who had been quickly gagged by the two henchmen that arrived late. The three Maakas and Silviu glared back but he wasn't too concerned - the vampires and dhampir were now outnumbered, and he had the dhampir's precious journal safely tucked away in a coat pocket.

"You're lucky someone happened to call when they did; you now have two more days left in your miserable existences. Peugeot! Gerard! Take them to the basement and guard them. Jeeves, Markus and I'll put this facility on lockdown until we either have the psyche-pushuke-thing or the vampires are dead!"

Silviu shifted slightly and Karl realized that he'd forgotten someone.

"The dhampir though..." the vampire hunter grinned wickedly, "Lock him up in my room. We have some unfinished business."

"On it." A soft but serious female voice quickly replied before its owner moved away from Elda and roughly pulled Silviu to his feet, quickly ushering him out of the room while the other vampire hunters took to their assigned tasks.

It was hard to believe that it wasn't even midnight.

...

"Stop shaking, you idiot," Silviu's guard huffed as they walked down the corridor and took the stairs to the next floor up. "Don't even think about running until we're out of sight."

_"Running?!"_ Silviu's eyebrows rose in surprise as he felt the grip on his arms loosen and a ball of paper being shoved into his hand.

"Knock me out first though - just punch hard enough to leave a bruise. There's another staircase on the other end of the hallway. Go all the way to the roof and jump to the terrace on the right, then make sure you find a way down that isn't visible from this building."

The youth nodded in understanding, but wasn't sure why the vampire hunter was letting him go until he finally gathered the courage to twist away and slam a fist into the side of her head hard enough to send her wide-brimmed hat flying.

"Johanna..."

Dirty blonde eyelashes fluttered over bright blue eyes for a moment before completely concealing them, a small trickle of blood dripping from her scalp.

"Damnit, Johanna..." Silviu turned and ran, clenching the paper ball tightly to his chest as he dashed to the other wing of the hotel in search of the other staircase. She couldn't have found him at a better time but the next time they crossed paths...

_"I know we were best friends, and you saved me, but a vampire's a vampire. I'll spare you once if I find you after I become a vampire hunter, but if we meet a second time I'll kill you."_

The memory nearly made Silviu miss the jump to the terrace but he managed to catch himself before he plummeted to the alley below. Johanna Markus had become a vampire hunter after all. Why had she given him the paper though?

Had he looked at it instead of throwing it away in case it concealed a tracking device, Silviu would've realized that Johanna had drawn a map to guide him to several vampire families that could've offered him protection, which she'd found on her own time with her vampire sensor.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

"We're not handing over Karin!" Kenta frowned at Ren as he held Karin close.

"I never said we should."

"Then why suggest that we give her to them since she's probably not the pushuke anymore?!"

Anju sighed and closed her eyes while she tried to find a way to keep the men's argument from getting worse. Kanon had unintentionally started it since she thought that the vampire hunters would let her mom go when they realized she wasn't the pushuke, and Ren had implied that Karin may be able to fight her way out if such a situation occurred. Of course Kenta decided to counter his brother-in-law since Karin didn't know what she was capable of as a newly awoken vampire.

"I'm sorry..."

"You shouldn't have said anything."

Kanon flinched at Anju's bluntness and snuggled up to Kenta. Her aunt had become a lot quieter after the vampire hunter called and Kenta had to tell most of how he met Karin and the events that led up to her memory being wiped by Ren. She wouldn't have believed any of it, except for the fact that Anju and Ren had occasionally added details that her dad left out. "But what if mom still is the pushuke? What happens then?"

Karin sniffled softly and everyone immediately stopped talking.

"...Mama...?"

"Kenta...Kanon..." Karin opened her eyes and smiled, her eyes immediately starting to tear up as she slowly sat up and hugged them both. Then she saw her siblings. "...WHYY?! Ren! Anju! Stupid idiots! I missed you so much! Don't...Don't do that to me again - I ended up hurting my family! Uwaah!"

"Can't...breathe..."

"Sorry!" Karin dropped her husband and daughter before tackling Ren, who was attempting to sneak away unnoticed. "BAKAAAAA!"

"..."

"Big sister, leave him alone. Mother, father, and grandma are in danger."

It took a moment for Karin to realize what Anju just said. "They are? Is that why they aren't here?"

"Why else? They wouldn't miss coming to see you for the world," Ren took advantage of the distraction by throwing Karin off and giving her a vicious noogie.

"OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWWWW!"

"Stop. This is serious - you know this, brother. We should go home before dawn and plan a way to rescue them since we only have two days."

Kanon looked up at Kenta. "Why can't we plan here?"

"This place's gotten a lot more wear and tear since your grandma and I lived here; Karin and her brother and sister would get burned when the sunlight comes in through some of these cracks...by the way, it's starting to get light out."

Karin's eyes widened as she looked outside and saw that her husband was right. "We should go ahead now in case I'm still really sensitive to sunlight."

Anju nodded. "I'll lead the way for Kenta and Kanon in case you need to move faster, big sister. Big brother, you can make sure that the hunters have not left the hotel in time?"

"Of course." And then Ren was gone.

Kanon blinked in confusion until Kenta gently nudged her so she'd remember to get up, then wandered outside just as the night sky began to gain a rich red-violet tinge at its eastern edge. Dawn.

Karin was the next to exit the shrine, comically hunching over to protect more of her exposed skin until she realized that she only felt a slight warmth on her face. "Ahhh~ That's so nice~!"

"We can't stay her forever." Anju huffed slightly even though she still enjoyed the feeling that she knew her sister had newly discovered.

"You're right... Come on, Kenta-ku- Kenta?!"

The dirty blonde smiled through the pain. "I'm fine, really." He winced as he fully emerged from the shrine and put his hands in his pockets, but not before everyone saw the thin trail of smoke from a dime-sized burn on one of his wrists.

* * *

_[Edited 7/24/14]_


	9. Chapter 9

"Run, Kenta." Anju frowned in concern as another small plume of smoke rose from Kenta's body.

The dirty blonde nodded. "You and Karin go ahead; Kanon can help me if I need it."

"But what's wrong with him?" Karin asked.

Kanon looked at her mother as if she were an idiot, then slowly moved to her father and snuggled under one of his arms. "I've got you. Let's go..." Having two vampire parents would be better than watching them burn to a crisp under the sun's steadily growing rays.

The run up the steep hill to the almost foreboding mansion that suddenly appeared at the crest was taxing enough without a time limit. Kanon soon found that she and Kenta were matching pace with a crispy-looking Karin, and even Anju seemed to be slowing up a little. The youngest Usui was starting to pick out shadows and different colors when a thick black blanket of bats swarmed into the clearing. She yelled in surprise but the flying mammals kept a good five feet above their heads in what seemed to be a protective barrier.

"I can't hold them for long in this state," Anju huffed slightly as she finally reached the porch and practically crashed through the mansion's main entrance.

Kanon gasped. "_You _did that?!"

"Yes."

"Can all vampires do that?"

Anju nodded and sat on a couch only to instantly doze off.

"Aunt Anju...?"

"Uwaah! Did we stay outside for too long?!" Karin gasped.

"I think she'll be fine." Kenta winced as two pairs of arms hugged him for comfort. "And can someone close the door? I'm feeling a little singed."

"Speaking of singed, we don't have any more human food that can be cooked in the house," Ren waved the door closed with a hand before quickly catching the disheveled, dark-haired youth that tried to slip out of his grasp, "and we now have two mouths to feed."

"Don't talk about me as if I'm not here!" Silviu growled, revealing canines that were now slightly longer than the average human's.

Anju frowned slightly as she recognized Silviu under a smattering of soot and blood. "You're back."

"But hungry - your brother interrupted me and I was trying to get something to eat."

"Then it looks like little niece will have to shop for human food on her own."

Ren blanched. "We have to store more of that stuff?" He glanced sideways at Kanon, "Go ahead and leave now. This one has something he'll only share when we're all settled in."

"About what?" Kenta questioned.

Silviu eyed the dirty blonde but didn't speak until Ren squeezed his shoulder warningly. "The eldest Maakas and the vampire hunters... And information on the psyche if I'm fed."

"I'll hurry then." Kanon smiled a little when she saw her father's nod of approval and quickly ran out the front door.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Johanna Markus flinched involuntarily at the sudden cascade of water crashing down onto her face. Maybe Karl had decided that he wasn't finished with her after all. Hopefully she'd pass out before things got any worse - her head was throbbing so much that she feared the vibrations would shake apart her rubber band and tissue-paper body.

"Mmmnphhs?" The water was turned off. "Markus?"

Gerard's concerned face looked down at her through a haze of water droplets. His calm brown eyes didn't leave her face even as he carefully draped a towel over her shivering, bloody body. Karl hadn't been pleased when she'd been found unconscious almost right in front of his hotel room, but he hadn't been as cruel as he would have been if he'd known she'd let Silviu escape on purpose.

"You've been out for about two hours. I'll bandage you up, make some coffee, and then walk you down so you can take your shift at watching the vampires."

Johanna gave a small nod and nearly threw up.

...

Gerard did everything he said he would and more with the indifference of a seasoned warrior, even shirking a couple of his own duties to make sure she could watch the vampires without passing out. Had the other vampire hunters been given a say in the matter, he'd have been their squad captain, but Karl Loft swooped in at the last minute and took the title for himself.

"Excuse me, could I use the restroom?" The sole male vampire politely questioned.

Johanna took a couple of seconds to consider her answer, then nodded. "Don't try to escape though - it's light outside and you wouldn't get far."

Henry Maaka nodded and quietly allowed her to pull him up and guide him to the basement's bathroom. There was only one stall and no possible means of escape except for an air vent too small for even a child to climb into. A bat, however, would fit just fine. As soon as Henry was closed into the bathroom he slipped one of the bats from his cloak into the air vent. Hopefully the flying mammal would be able to let his children know that they were safe.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

"Are you all right?"

Anju slowly turned around to face Silviu, who had taken a shower and was now clad in some of Ren's old clothes. The hybrid wasn't as tall as Anju's older brother, and a little broader in the shoulders, but just as limber. "Yes. I was only checking on big sister and her husb-"

"No."

"You sh-"

"S-Stay back!" Silviu clumsily danced away and covered his elongating fangs with his hands. "If...good blood was h-hard to...come by at home, we'd...we'd take from...each other..."

"Ohhh that doesn't sound bad at all~" Boogie trilled from the safety of Anju's arms only to have his head smacked to the side by his owner.

Ren suddenly appeared and knocked the hybrid halfway down the hallway. If Silviu even looked like he was going to make a move on his baby sister, he'd find himself outside faster than he could blink.

"Stop...!" Silviu quickly scooted away as Ren took a step toward him. "My...taste is...desire!"

Anju felt a twinge of guilt even though she had no way of knowing that her longing for a relationship as good as Karin's would set him off. "Desire?"

"And his desire to beat...me to a pulp...is strong."

Ren tried to calm down as Silviu's pupils dilated out of need for blood. What the hybrid said made sense. Hadn't he found the youth about to bite a hobo offering anything and everything for a bottle of alcohol? Desire was a fairly common emotion for humans, but if Silviu knew of someone who had a taste in blood that only he could provide... Ren nearly shuddered at the thought.

"We will go hunting tonight if you behave."

Silviu only nodded and rushed into the room once used as his cell, slamming the door. Why did his day have to be today? Maybe he should've fed the day he got off the plane instead of trying to hold onto his humanity.

* * *

_[Edited 7/24/14]_


	10. Chapter 10

Silviu waited until he was sure he'd gotten his hunger under control before quietly coming out of his room and moving downstairs. His heightened senses told him that everyone else was in the kitchen, but at least the smells of rice and meat and steamed vegetables covered the scent of blood. Although Anju had calmed down a little, her desire was still apparent enough to keep his fangs from shrinking much. Still a bit nervous, he chose to wait outside the dining room until everyone had gotten settled.

"A-Aren't you coming in?" Kanon asked the dark-haired hybrid when she caught sight of him. He was clearly a vampire, but the sunlight hadn't seemed to affect him much. "There's plenty of food..."

"Sure..." Silviu still froze momentarily as all eyes shifted towards him but he quickly got over it and served himself. Had it really been that long since he'd eaten a meal with a group of people?

It was hard for anyone to eat - the atmosphere had rapidly shifted from cheerful to almost oppressive by the time Silviu sat down with his meager breakfast. Kanon and Silviu choked down their meals while Anju, Ren, Karin, and Kenta barely touched their glasses of blood.

Finally, with a sigh, Silviu began to explain why the psyche was so important to the European vampires.

...

_In the mountains of [present-day] Bosnia and Herzegovina; early 1800s._

_ The twenty-year-old woman wove through dangerously rocky crevasses and huge stands of trees, her once long and elaborate gown from a time period long gone snagged and torn in several places. She wasn't running out of fear, however. She ran out of anger. How dare they attempt to kill her! Wasn't doing away with her mother, her companion, her lover, and her followers enough?! Once she got them to run into the trap she was leading them into, she'd turn them one by one until a new group of followers was born!_

_ "Got you!"_

_ The cry was so unexpected that the woman barely managed to dodge the stake plunging toward her heart. "Ah!"_

_ So he'd survived her mother's attack somehow - no wonder she was now blocked off from her one chance at saving herself. This very same maneuver had been attempted the first time he came after her. That was years ago though, and her companion and first lover had been there to attack him after she'd been left for dead._

_ Things were about to change, however. He'd die this time - she'd become a vampire after the first massacre of her people, and her strength was much more than it had ever been when she'd been a mere psyche. The change had been painful but the unexpected ability to turn normal humans into vampires was worth every pang of agony. _

_ "They didn't drain you, psyche?!" The man struck out at her again and managed to scratch her arm._

_ With a snarl, the woman knocked the stake out of the man's grasp and grabbed him by the neck, choking him. "Of course not - you didn't leave any of mother's vampires in the region alive! Dearest Bertha and my sister sent me away to some human village, but then..." she chuckled evilly, revealing long fangs, "I started _changing._"_

_ The man's eyes widened in fear and he started to squirm more violently. _

_ "And now...you will start to change too. Clever men are too useful to just throw away - we will create the next psyche together, and _then _I will ki..."_

_ Another woman, older than the first but clearly related to her in some way, had picked up the fallen stake and rammed it into the former psyche from behind. The man winced as dark blood spattered on his uniform and face but managed to push the impaled madwoman to the ground and shoot her with all of the silver bullets in his handgun. _

_ "You..."_

_ "Little sister was never sane, and you looked like you needed some assistance. I also attended to Bertha - she got to the rest of your men before I could save any of them."_

_ "Vampire..."_

_ "Not really. I feed on animals because my blood preference is so...taboo, but they're close enough." The new arrival blushed lightly but waved it off. "But I really came to remind you of your promise to me."_

_ "To not hunt your family, correct?"_

_ "Correct. And to keep an eye out for another psyche, should one appear. Neither of us would like a repeat of these events."_

_ The man nodded, still miffed that he and his vampire hunters had been unable to destroy the fiends they'd been tracking for months. Being saved by one of the last vampiric leaders in Europe didn't help matters, especially since said leader was female. _

_..._

"..."

"...And that's how my grandma Mila learned that psyches could make vampires, according to my mother." Silviu added on nervously.

Ren snorted in disbelief, while Anju and Kenta looked pretty skeptical. Kanon was staring at him with her mouth slightly open in surprise.

"Wait, wait... Uhh, so your grandma's sister was a psyche...?" a very confused Karin asked.

"Yes."

"But there weren't enough vampires to drink all of her blood because the vampire hunters killed them all?"

Silviu nodded. "My grandma Mila and Bertha were visiting some acquaintances in Denmark, so they were safe."

"And a vampire hunter she thought was dead found her again?"

"Yes, after she became a vampire and converted the town she'd been sent to."

"And she nearly... But then your grandma helped him because her sister was nuts!"

"Exactly. Good job." Silviu had to smile at how relieved Karin looked. "I know, it's a lot to take in."

"But the Marker - or Maaka - family has the only pushuke now." Ren glared at the hybrid, determined to poke holes in his tale.

" Once my great-grandmother Carmilla realized how important the pushuke - or psyche - was, she hid my great-aunt away. My blood's too watered- down to make a new one though."

Anju frowned more. "Carmilla?"

"We don't talk about her...she's nuts and changed her name a lot. And she's long dead."

"?!" Kenta suddenly jumped up from his chair. "Speaking of dead, I'm going to be dead if I don't go to class! I have a couple of major benchmark tests today!" He rushed to the door and managed a couple of steps outside before he stumbled, body already smoking. With a cry of terror, Karin quickly jumped up and yanked him back inside before any more damage was done.

"Papa, are you okay?!"

"Kenta! Uwaah! Call in sick!"

Silviu had already reached the old-fashioned house phone and was holding it so the wood and metal wouldn't irritate Kenta's crispy hands. "What's the number? You won't be able to heal quickly until you find your blood preference."

It didn't occur to the hybrid that he didn't know how to use the phone until he tried to dial the school's number.

Ren stood and rolled his eyes. "I'll do it."

"THANK YOU BIG BOTHER!"

"Calm down and get off of me, you lovestruck clutz!"

Silviu sweatdropped.

"Oh, thanks for trying to help," Kenta nodded at Silviu and smiled a little.

"It's nothing. No one was around the first time I ended up like this, so I guess I'm just more than happy to help others adjust."

Anju, who'd gotten another glass of blood and was quietly watching the chaos unfold around her, couldn't help but smile a little at Silviu's efforts to help the family. _"He is trying to make up for giving us this valuable information on big sister's condition so late, I guess."_

A small motion of Boogie's head made the youngest vampire look up just as a bat swooped at her head and circled around her frantically. "Father..."

* * *

_Special Note: _Carmilla is the vampire featured in Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's novella _Carmilla_, written in 1871. Whether she had children or not isn't addressed in the story, but she has two in this fic just because I thought it would be cool to tie Silviu back to her.

The name-changing is also accurate - Carmilla goes by Mircalla for much of the original story.

* * *

_[Edited 7/24/14]_


	11. Chapter 11

The bat continued to circle Anju's head, squeaking madly, but calmed down once the young vampire caught it.

_"Little Mistress, Master and Mistress and Matron are in the basement; air ducts would be the best entry point for someone small while the others distracted the hunters. Come as soon as you can and you can take them down together. Master sends his love."_

Anju nodded to the bat and let it go. "Go back and tell them we're coming."

"Tonight then?" Ren asked as soon as Kenta's family began to make all of the needed phone calls on their own.

She nodded. "Yes. That was daddy's bat giving the go-ahead. The smallest of us can use the air vents to get to the basement and free our parents and grandmother."

"But that would be...you, Kanon, and Silviu."

"I know."

"I'm not allowing you to put yourself in so much danger."

"The ones who remain outside will be in danger as well if they're trying to distract the hunters."

"You definitely aren't staying outside then," Ren huffed in frustration, "but that hybrid isn't going with you."

Anju nodded. It would be better if the hunters were focused on catching Silviu since he escaped from them, and they could always use him as a bargaining chip in case something went wrong. "I will go in with Kanon then...if she can keep up."

"Huh?" Kanon turned to the vampires when she heard her name.

"You and I are sneaking through the air ducts to rescue your grand- and great-grandparents."

"Really?! Then what're mom and dad doing?"

"They will stay outside with Silviu and I," Ren looked less than thrilled about that. "Karin will pretend to be the pushuke again if needed."

"I will?"

"_Yes,_ dumbell."

Kenta glared at Ren and took a couple of steps in the other's direction. "Back off, okay? If we can't cooperate and get along, it'll be harder to get the rest of our family out of this mess. I tried to be nice and ignore it earlier, but now that both of us are vampires you have no right to treat us like we're still human!"

Ren shrugged but stayed quiet. Kenta was still under the influence of Karin's bite so who knew what he'd do next. Maybe the dirty blonde would stop acting like a human when he got beaten up by those barbaric hunters.

"So what's the plan?" Karin asked as she hung up the phone for the last time.

"You, Kenta, big brother, and Silviu will stay outside and distract the hunters while Kanon and I rescue our parents and grandmother."

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Karl Loft was so excited that he barely slept the previous night. If the vampire children and the dhampir didn't show up before dawn, their elders would be left on the hotel roof to burn. If he did get the psyche as well he'd destroy the entire Maaka clan for good measure - they could bear another psyche like that vampire a couple of centuries ago, and that would not end well. Loft had read Silviu's journal through several times and had gained some very valuable information that would tip tonight's conflict in his favor. A couple of his underlings were out now, buying supplies.

With an impatient sigh, Loft settled down into the couch he'd taken for himself and let his eyelids droop lazily. Maybe he'd be able to take a nap this time...

_-Embarrassment!-*'

The vampires, Silviu, and Kanon had finally figured out a strategy and backup plan that everyone liked when there was an unexpected knock at the door.

"Who could that be?" Kenta asked, confused. Regular humans couldn't find the Maaka manor.

"Is it someone who could help with the rescue?" Silviu frowned a bit, "Although I didn't think anyone here called someone."

Ren checked the door, only to quickly back away and glare at the ancient wooden slab. "It's a vampire in a well-pressed suit."

"Then it is another suitor..."

"Suitor?! Does little sister finally have a boyfriend?!" Karin practically shrieked as she wrapped Anju in a bone-breaking hug.

"Nn..." was the muffled response.

"So it's okay if you ditch him, right?" Kanon asked.

"No. Since mother usually sets these things up, it would harm her reputation among vampires if neither she nor I answered the door."

Silviu bit his lip to keep from snickering at how Anju looked like a life-sized doll in Karin's arms. "How long would the date take?"

"Too long. We need to leave as soon as possible. The best option is to continue the plan, but leave Kanon and Ren here with me in case the vampire won't go away when I tell him to."

As no one could think of a better option, everyone grudgingly agreed to this new arrangement.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

"Mr. Loft? Mr. Loft?"

"Hmm...?" the hunter in question stretched.

"There's a girl outside claiming to be the psyche. One Karin Maaka."

"Oh really?"

"Yessir."

Loft was up and wide awake in a flash, grinning wickedly. "Is anyone else with her?"

"The dhampir is, but he's sticking to the shadows, as is usual when he's in the vampiric phase of his cycle."

"Perfect. Show her in."

* * *

_[Edited 7/24/14]_


	12. Chapter 12

_"Here we go again..."_ Anju sighed to herself as she set Boogie on her bed and returned downstairs to greet her 'guest.' Ren would have shown the suitor into the formal parlor by now.

Kanon, who was in her mother's old room despite her protests, gave Anju a big grin and a thumbs-up as she passed by. Anju had to refrain from rolling her eyes - someone was teasing her about her 'date' way too much.

As long as this didn't last too long and interfere with the plan...

"Dump him fast." Ren muttered as they passed each other in the hall, a protective glint in his eye.

This suitor, however, was not to be easily dissuaded. He appeared to be around Glark's age (a marked improvement from previous callers) but was very persistent even after Anju answered one of his almost lewd questions with a thinly-veiled threat. It was clear that all this vampire wanted was a tie into the family that had the last pushuke.

...

"And stay out!" Ren yelled through the door at the furious vampire he'd just tossed out into the night. "Let's leave through the back door so I don't have to see his sorry ass again."

Anju nodded in agreement. She was going to have a serious talk with her mother after everything settled down.

Kanon, however...

"Wow, how did dad get the courage to stick around? No offense!"

"None taken..." but Ren's tone warned her not to bring it up. Ever again. Period.

Anju was the one to break the very charged silence. "We should go to the others, big brother."

"By bat?"

The youngest Maaka gave her big brother a look that clearly said, _"Well how else are we going to do it?" _

Ren nodded. "Come here, Kanon."

"Whaa?"

"I said come here."

"B-But what's going 'by bat?' I can't turn into one, and I don't think they get big enough to carry people..."

"Just don't look down."

Kanon tried to do as Anju suggested as she felt herself slowly rising off the floor, but the sickening swoop through the back door allowed her to catch a glimpse of the living carpet of inky black bats underneath her feet. Not looking down at the bright streetlights below really did keep her from completely panicking.

A round of machine-gunfire ripped through the air right where Anju had been moments before her bats veered off to safety. Ren tried to follow but the vampire hunters must've had more than one weapon ready to fire - he was forced to make a shield with the bats in order to deflect bullets away from himself and Kanon. By the smell they gave off as they hit the bat barrier, they had at least one silver component.

"Uwaah!"

"Brace yourself," Ren gritted his teeth and managed to make a halfway-decent landing behind the hotel that the vampire hunters had commandeered. "Get in the air vent, quickly. It's total chaos out there, and I don't think Silviu will be able to make it. Go!" He broke the lock on the emergency exit and Kanon slipped inside the building.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Silviu didn't dare show his face, nor choose to emerge from the dumpster he'd plunged into during the confusion. Everything was entirely his fault. There was nothing that could prove otherwise - even Karin and Kenta wouldn't be afraid to blame him. He knew he should've asked for one of the more experienced vampires to come with them when Anju's suitor forced them to split up. Had Ren come with them, they would've been able to feed on the way without fear of messing up and be full to bursting with energy. The only reason why Karin was managing to hold off the vampire hunters on her own was because she was trying to reach Kenta.

_"God...what have I done to them?"_ The Romanian words rolled off of his tongue as the hybrid buried his face in his hands. The same hands that had locked Vampire Hunter Karl Loft's arms to his sides as his fangs...

It was just like the first night his change had happened, except that he'd taken down a particularly horrid man instead of his best friend's foster brother! If Loft hadn't managed to smuggle more vampire hunters into the hotel without any of them knowing, he, Karin, and Kenta could've stormed the hotel and freed the elder Maakas without much resistance.

"..."

Silviu yelped as he looked up and found a very familiar, doll-like vampire staring down at him from the lip of the dumpster. The protective layer of bats surrounding her was the only thing keeping the vampire hunters from shooting her.

"Anju..." He knew she could see the blood on his face. "It's my fault - none of us felt comfortable with feeding on the way... The next thing I know is I'm feeding from Loft, and vampire hunters are pouring out of the building, and Kenta - who was hidden where he could be much closer to the hotel than Karin or I - was trying to get me away but got shot! I ran here but Karin's still-"

"Big sister's remembered that she has bats to aid her now." The tone of Anju's voice could've chilled ice cubes. "She and big brother can't keep the hunters from Kanon forever."

Taking the hint, Silviu forced himself to slide out of the dumpster and land on his feet. Anju was giving him a chance to redeem himself and he didn't plan on backing out this time. Since he couldn't control bats he picked up a broken, rusty tire iron and charged into the chaos.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

"Excuse me, mister, but can I go to the bathroom?" Elda Maaka smiled at the new guard.

"Didn't you just go about an hour ago?"

"Yes, but I have a little bladder that's been under a lot of stress..."

"Oh, _fine_," the man watching the elder Maakas rose from his chair and strode over to the makeshift cell, unlocking it and opening the door just enough to let Elda slip through.

That was the last thing he saw before Elda knocked him out with a wave of her hand - the vampires had heard the chaos aboveground begin and wordlessly decided to employ the plan they'd made in case their children couldn't get to them in time.

* * *

_[Edited 6/8/15]_


	13. Chapter 13

Johanna Markus gritted her teeth and tried to drown out the yells and gunshots from outside. Squeezing her eyes shut helped a little, but no amount of blindness could remove the image of Silviu's fangs plunging into Loft's jugular that was now permanently seared onto the backs of her eyelids.

...

_Romania; Around three Years Earlier_

_ It took Johanna a moment to realize what woke her. She'd never been a heavy sleeper so the thunk right outside her room was not only unexpected, but making her a little nervous. Maybe someone had stubbed their toe on the wall. _

_ "Oh. My. God."_

_ Her foster brother stood limply in the doorway, with only Silviu's hands around his middle to keep him upright. And Silviu himself..._

_ "Johanna... I can explain..."_

_ The girl took one look at the blood dripping from her best friend's fanged mouth and screamed._

_..._

_"That's why the vampires need to die. Why _he _needs to die."_ Johanna fought against the tidal wave of fear that threatened to overwhelm her. Loft was gone. Not just Loft now, but at least half a dozen vampire hunters were either unconscious or dead.

The newly-fledged vampires had put up more of a fight than expected, but not immediately. The dirty-blonde one had leapt out from around the side of the building but was quickly shot, causing the tiny vampire called Karin to panic and attempt a rescue. Distracted, the other vampire hunters had completely forgotten to keep an eye on Silviu - why would they pay attention to him when they could easily kill two full vampires right then and there? That's when Silviu launched himself across the street and killed Loft. Had Johanna not been so paralyzed with fear, Silviu would've died then and there - she'd been standing right beside Loft and facing him, receiving orders, when it happened.

_"But why didn't Silviu kill me too?"_

With a sigh the female vampire hunter turned away from the chaos outside the hotel and headed to the stairs. If she couldn't bring herself to fight on the battlefield, she'd carry out her duty to defend the citizens of Japan in a different manner.

How hard could shooting three vampires that were trapped in a basement be?

_-Embarrassment!-*'

"Must you pick the lock, Henry?" Calera Maaka sighed as she passed one of her hairpins to her husband, who was crouched in front of the doorknob to the stairwell. They'd tried to use the elevator but someone aboveground had either broken it or cut the power.

"It's the best way to not attract attention. Oops...I thought I had it that time."

Elda rolled her eyes. "This is useless, and there's enough going on upstairs that no one will notice another broken door! Let's knock it down! Move, Henry!"

"Mama!?"

Elda's foot ruffled her son's hair as she delivered a roundhouse kick that connected solidly with the middle of the door. Even though the vampire hunters had reinforced the flimsy slab of wood, the door flew off of its hinges and slammed into the opposite wall of the stairwell. The doorknob, however, remained in Henry's hand.

"Was that really necessary?!" Calera shot a glare at her mother-in-law.

"If you think you can do better, you can get the next one-"

_Click._

Henry triumphantly held up the lock. "I got it! If you'd only given me five more minutes, I'd have figured it out!"

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Kanon hadn't expected the maze of air vents to be so confusing. The spies in a few of her best friend's favorite movies and TV shows always made this look so easy, but then again they usually had some sort of tracking equipment and a guy on the outside giving them instructions. All she knew was that she needed to go down, but doing so would be a challenge because there weren't any ladders and the air vents got smaller and smaller as she moved further from the main passageway.

A warm, flickering light glinted through a large air grate set into the floor on her left and she impulsively moved toward it, figuring that she'd have more luck getting to the basement if she knew where she was now. Thankfully, pulling the grate out of its setting was pretty easy since the screws were already pretty loose. She seemed to be on the first floor still, but near the front of the hotel, as she could see people that could only be vampire hunters lighting torches and chasing - Karin!

"Mama...!"

"Freeze!" Kanon tried to twist around and see who'd spotted her but slipped and fell through the ceiling, landing on her back so suddenly that the wind was knocked out of her.

"I said _freeze._ Put your hands where I can see them." The vampire hunter glared at Kanon and cocked the pistol pointed right at her heart.

Kanon slowly sat up and raised her hands.

Two women and a man, all vampires, burst through another doorway further down the hall, took one look at the situation Kanon was in, and charged the vampire hunter.

"I'll shoot her! I really will, I'm telling y-"

The vampire that bore a disturbing resemblance to Karin knocked the vampire hunter out of the way while the male snatched up Kanon.

"Let me go, let me go! I'm not a hunter!" The girl cried and tried to land a few decent punches on the vampire carrying her.

"Ow! I know you aren't! You're my granddaughter!"

Kanon was about to comment on how he didn't look like a grandpa but yelped as she was suddenly whisked into an alcove, a rain of bullets passing through the space that she'd occupied moments earlier. Apparently the entire Maaka/Usui family was fair game now.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Although Karin wasn't the strongest vampire, her newfound viciousness made her a very terrifying opponent. Kenta's recovery (and assurances that he could still fight) soothed her a little, but catching sight of a vampire hunter holding a gun to Kanon's head nearly sent her over the edge.

"Karin!" Kenta tried to keep up with her but was waylaid by a pair of hunters.

"I'll get her." Ren almost smirked at Kenta's situation and ran into the hotel after Karin. He didn't plan on letting the dirty blonde get close to his sister until she'd calmed down and wouldn't be a danger to anyone.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

"Karin!" Anju gasped, then knocked out an oncoming hunter just before he could stab her with one of the stakes clenched in his hands. The look on her big sister's face...Karin wasn't really Karin anymore.

Silviu, battered and bloody, turned toward the silver-haired vampire but something high in the air caught his eye. "Oh shi-"

_Fwish-BOOM!_

Long tongues of flame suddenly shot out of the hotel's third-story windows.

"Big Brother! Big Sister!"

"Anju, no!" Silviu barely managed to hold her back. "Help Kenta! There are only four hunters left; I'll find your family and get them out before the flames catch!" He bit back a moan of pain as Anju stepped on his bruised foot and pulled away.

"No, we lure the last hunters in, then use bats to collapse the building. I refuse to let even one of them survive."

* * *

_[Edited 6/8/15]_


	14. Chapter 14

Having a much keener sense of smell than Kanon, Henry Maaka caught wind of the smoke first. "Calera, we need to go!" He yelled over the chaos around himself and his family. There had been a couple of instances that he could've whisked his granddaughter to safety but he didn't dare leave the rest of his family to deal with the vampire hunters on their own - he feared that he'd be too hard on himself if his leaving resulted in their getting hurt.

"What?!" Calera managed before finally managing to knock out the hunter that was attempting to stake her though the chest.

Not wanting to scare Kanon, Henry raised his gaze to the ceiling and tapped his nose.

Kanon, however, was more concerned with other things.

"MAMA!"

"KANO-" Karin started at her daughter's cry and turned only to be hit over the head by a hunter that had managed to stagger to his feet.

Elda hissed angrily and dove at the vampire hunter just as a flaming timber crashed through the roof, preventing Calera from following her.

"Is mama all right?!" Henry asked his wife as she rushed back to help him pull a crying Kanon out of reach of the rapidly spreading flames.

Calera nodded absentmindedly, unable to keep her eyes from leaving the sheet of fire between her and Karin. "I saw Ren running to help her just before that thing came down. If you hadn't pointed out the smoke I doubt I would've been as wary - my hesitation saved me."

The couple shared a brief smile before bursting through an emergency exit with a crying Kanon.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

When the spots vanished from Karin's vision and she was able to stand upright, she realized that she was no longer in danger. Ren and Elda were standing over the vampire hunter that had attacked her, but Elda was the only one with blood dripping from her lips. Something else was wrong though...the air felt stuffy and thick and smelled like burning things.

"Big brother, grandmother, we need to leave," Anju announced as she and Silviu suddenly appeared through a steadily thickening haze of smoke. "The building is on fire. Silviu and I will lead you out."

A fire? Where?! Karin panicked for a moment but Ren slung her over his shoulder and started to jog away from the bright, flickering light behind them.

"Shh." Silviu suddenly hissed and quickly directed them to the side just as the last of the vampire hunters darted through the smoke, goggles and gas masks in place in order for them to hunt their quarry more efficiently.

No one relaxed their guard until they were safely away from the burning building, and even then they tried to keep the amount of coughing to a minimum. Maybe that was how Henry, Calera, and Kanon found them - it wasn't like they were making any other sounds that might attract attention.

"We can save the family bonding time for later," Elda's large, bright eyes glanced around the group for a moment, "but the important thing right now is to figure out if everyone is here. We aren't out of the woods yet."

Karin looked up from holding Kanon close and frowned in confusion. "...But we're in the city, not the forest."

"That's not the point, idiot," Ren glared, "so just shut up and see if your whole family is here."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Where's daddy?"

Everyone's eyes widened at Kanon's words, and Calera quickly pulled Karin close to muffle her sobs.

"I told him I'd get Karin. What?" Ren challenged the looks of disbelief he received with a sour expression.

"We are going to get him."

"Anju, don't be stupid! We don't even know if that's where he went!"

"The bats saw him go into the hotel not long after the beam collapsed."

"...Fine." Ren huffed.

"No, there he is! The hunters are after him though!" Elda suddenly grinned like a maniac. "What a tough little human~ Maybe he's worth toying with in the near future."

Kenta yelled something at them as he stumbled out of the hotel and in their general direction. He was obviously relieved to see that everyone was all right, but something suddenly startled him enough to force him into a run.

Henry yelped and jumped aside as something zinged by his leg. "Not now, mama, the hunters are shooting at us again! That's what he was warning us about!"

"Well damn, and the sun's coming up! Make for the manor, I guess..."

"Just run, mama!"

"I'm running! I'm running! And _you're _going to get whacked with a slipper if you keep telling me what to- HEY!" Elda hissed at the hunter who clipped her arm with a bullet and sent a bat whizzing into his face. "Kanon, come on!"

"But daddy! Uwaah!"

Kanon stumbled and almost fell but Silviu, who was the closest to her, quickly grabbed her arm and started pulling her along. "It's okay, Kanon, your mom's right here, your dad's close, and we're gonna be safe..." the dhampir drifted back into soft but rapid Romanian but it didn't matter - Kanon was trying not to pass out from the pain in her leg.

"It hurts..."

"Ignore it. Just stay awake. We're going to that store, and you can rest insi-"

Henry and Karin quickly darted out of the convenience store they'd broken into and pulled Kanon and Silviu through the busted-out doorway before they were hit by any more bullets. It was hard to tell how many shots they'd taken due to all of the blood, but they didn't have time to do much more than bandage Kanon's and Silviu's wounds.

"The hunters...?!" Anju suddenly gasped just as Elda's hands balled into fists.

"You saw that too?"

"Yes. We should take advantage of this and return to the manor."

Karin stared at the two with wide, tear-rimmed eyes. "Why? What happened?"

"The hunters are dead, but Kenta is no longer there."

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Gerard watched the chaos from atop another nearby hotel, his longbow in one hand and a large, heavy-tipped arrow in the other in case any more vampire hunters appeared and attempted to shoot the dirty-blonde vampire. He'd never been fond of Karl Loft, so when Loft told him to stay out of the way unless things got out of control, he conveniently turned a blind eye when the other vampire hunter was killed. Vampire hunting was the only thing that he knew how to do. Now that the psyche was able to create new vampires he'd have no shortage of the bloodthirsty creatures to kill.

Something stirred in a small side street and Gerard almost sent an arrow whizzing toward the area when he realized that the figures winding their way out of sight were the vampires he was trying to preserve.

Good riddance.

He turned and fired another flaming arrow into the burning hotel for good measure.

* * *

_[Edited 6/8/15]_


	15. Chapter 15

The atmosphere inside the Maaka manor was very tense. No one had seen Kenta during their trek up the hill, and the sun was about to clear the tops of the nearby trees. If Karin's husband didn't appear in the next few minutes they'd might as well give up for the day and attempt to find his remains that night.

"Daddy can't be dead..." Kanon wheezed, tears welling up in her eyes as she tried to stay conscious. Her grandparents had done their best to remove the bullets and shrapnel embedded in her body but it was clear that more serious damage had been done - Kanon was nearly as pale as a true vampire. At least she was better off than Silviu, who'd unintentionally taken more of the damage. He was currently passed out on a rug while his body tried to heal itself.

Karin sighed and absentmindedly rubbed her daughter's hand. She was too tired to respond but didn't dare fall asleep in case...no, she didn't want to think of it.

"Karin..."

Karin slowly looked up at her dad, who looked just as upset as she felt. He opened his mouth to speak again but stopped, then knelt beside her and hugged her tightly.

"If you bite them and turn them into full vampires, they may have a chance." Henry finally managed. "Your mother and I talked while we were cleaning up and agreed that they lost too much blood while we were escaping. I'm pretty surprised that they've managed to stay with us this long, but if they fall asleep it's pretty much over."

"But I d... don't want that..."

"Mom, do it..." Now Kanon was crying. They'd almost forgotten that she was there. "If we did lose daddy... I don't want you to lose me too. And that guy saved me... I don't want to die..."

"...Uwaaah..."

Ren frowned and rolled his eyes. "Great, now we have two leaky faucets in the house."

No one paid any attention to him, however. They were quietly supporting Karin as she hesitantly leaned over Kanon and bit into Kanon's neck as gently as possible.

_-Embarrassment!-*

_"Finally..."_

Kenta banged on the front door of the Maaka manor as hard as he could, ignoring the pain born from his blackening fist coming into contact with the cool, solid wood. Hopefully they'd hear him...

A blur of silver and black jerked him into the front hallway and pushed the door shut before propelling him into a large, dark space A couch. He suddenly found himself on the Maaka's drawing room couch. He'd made it.

The dirty blonde nearly choked at the foreign taste suddenly at the back of his mouth before he recognized the coppery scent. Then he couldn't get enough of it, and choked again, thirstily licking his lips when he felt delicious crimson blood try to run out of his mouth.

"KENTA!"  
"Karin, wait a moment so his stomach can settle!"

His wife clearly didn't listen because she was already wrapping her arms around him and sobbing into his chest. Her reaction wasn't surprising - Kenta himself didn't think he'd be able to make it to safety.

"Karin..."

"Daddy?"

Kanon's face hazily swam into view and Kenta realized that he'd started crying as well. She looked a little too pale but at least she was still alive. "Come here."

"She got shot, and the only way to save her was for Karin to bite her and turn her into one of us." Henry sighed when Kenta looked up at him questionably.

"If it's what had to be done..."

"It was the only thing that could save her. If there was any other way for us to help her, we'd have done it if given the opportunity."

Kenta nodded. "No one else got seriously injured?"

"Only Silviu, the half-breed that was with us. He was trying to help Kanon catch up and was shot as well. The rest of us didn't get more than a few scratches each."

Feeling very much relieved, Kenta nodded, then yawned. The adrenaline rush that had kept him awake had finally worn off.

"We'll let you rest out here." Calera shooed the rest of her family upstairs.

* * *

_[Edited 6/8/15]_


	16. Chapter 16

The first thing Kanon noticed when she woke up was that she was curled up close to Karin, who was still asleep.

Then Kanon noticed that, not only were her clothes different than what she usually wore (and a lot older-looking as well), but the bedroom itself was very different. Maybe she and her mom were in a hotel?

But then a clock on the nightstand on her other side caught her interest. It was 8:30 am...on a Wednesday.

"MAAMAAAA, I'LL BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!"

Despite the volume of Kanon's outburst, Karin arose as slowly as the living dead.

"Huh...? Kanon?"

"Mamaa, I need a bento and a ride to school so I'm not late! I'm already behind as it is!"

Karin's eyes suddenly went wide. "Oh no, Kanon! And Kenta will need his bento too - how come no one woke up on time?! I'll call the schools and make sure both of you are excused while I make bento!"

"And my uniform's gone!"

"No time for that now unless you want to be even lat- ahh!" Karin squeaked as she ran out the door and suddenly tripped - she was wearing an almost ridiculously long nightdress and had stepped on the trim lining the bottom of it.

Kanon cautiously followed her mom to make sure she was okay and was surprised to see that Kenta was already helping Kanon up off the floor. "Daddy? What's going on; we have school and you're still in your pajamas! You didn't even wake us up!"

Kenta frowned a little. "We can only take night classes now, Kanon. All of us were asleep for a couple of days, so calm down a little and try to remember what happened."

"Hey, mister Kenta, did you see a..." Silviu trailed off as he randomly peered out of the bathroom and saw the little family.

Seeing the other young vampire made something click in Kanon's head, and the next thing she knew she was on her hands and knees with her forehead against the polished wood floor. "Thank you for saving my life, mister...! It means so much..."

"It's all right, Kanon," Silviu gently pulled her up and hugged her for a moment, very aware of her parents' watching him. He knew he wouldn't be able to stay at the Maaka residence much longer, but he had no idea where to go after he left. Who knew where his few belongings were, and he didn't have any money.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Gerard turned on his phone immediately after jumping onto a train bound for Estonia only to find an unpleasant amount of texts and voicemails from several unknown numbers waiting for him. Just as he was about to open the oldest one, his phone vibrated loudly.

"Hello?"

"Gerard... You bastard..."

The voice was raspy, but he recognized it as one of the vampire hunters that should've died in the hotel fire. He had to have been bitten by that psyche. Perfect.

"If you say so," the vampire hunter sneered.

"I'll hunt you down and-"

Gerard hung up, then turned his phone off - it had started vibrating again. He'd have to get his number changed soon. Then he could lie low and wait for the newborn vampire to get reported to his superiors. They'd certainly assign him to the case and pay him handsomely in return for killing his former comrade.

Speaking of pay... Gerard frowned and squeezed the journal in his pocket as if he was wringing someone's neck - specifically, a certain dhampir's. After all the tickets and weaponry he'd recently purchased, he barely had enough to get a hotel room for a night. Maybe the journal he'd swiped from the hotel before it was burned down would help him find Silviu.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

"...He's gone," Anju murmured to herself as she quickly checked the property through the eyes of her bats. Was she supposed to feel disappointed? Sad? Angry, even? Maybe Boogie... No, he'd teased her enough last night, so he was going to stay in the closet for a whole day this time.

A soft knock at the door distracted the silver-haired vampire from her thoughts. "Yes?"

Father and mother would like to have a family meeting." Ren huffed from outside. He was most likely playing gofer in order to stay out of Elda's clutches - Anju could hear her grandmother laughing at something downstairs.

With a nod, the youngest Maaka rose and got dressed before making her way downstairs. If she was lucky, she'd be able to state her new intentions before her family could do anything irrational.

_-Embarrassment!-*'

Silviu returned to the Maaka mansion around two in the morning, after reluctantly feeding from a couple of humans, stealing some clothes from a laundromat, and washing the clothes that the Maakas let him borrow. He'd decided to leave the next night so he'd have time to give his hosts a proper farewell - they had done a lot more for him than he'd ever expected.

Instead of walking into an empty parlor, however, the new vampire was greeted by the entire Maaka-Usui family.

"Uhh, if this is about how long I'm staying-"

"We'll help you find somewhere to settle down if you want to stay in Japan," Henry immediately jumped in. "I'm sure the vampire council would like some new blood here - ow!"

"Henry!" Calera hissed as she threateningly raised her slipper above her husband's head again.

"He insisted that we should throw in a bad joke or five," Ren huffed from the extreme edge of the room.

"But anyway, we thought we should give you something since you lost everything in that fire, right?" Elda grinned from her favorite chair. "Oh I know you didn't own those new clothes in the first place."

"I don't," Silviu reluctantly admitted, "but I didn't want to inconvenience you, so I took them and cleaned the ones you let me use."

Calera looked up with an expression of mild surprise. "Inconvenience? Not too much, but you did manage to bring our family back together. From what we gathered, if those vampire hunters hadn't come looking for you or the pushuke, our Karin would still think that she was orphaned, Kenta would've been struggling to not tell his family about us, and Kanon may have never met the rest of her family!"

"Or saved their lives. How could my silly daughter-in-law forget something that important?" Elda's eyes gleamed challengingly in the faint light.

Calera's grip on her slipper tightened slightly. "I didn't forget, I just wanted my sweet mother-in-law have a few words, even though even that may be too much for her."

"But this is what we wanted to give you, since the old one's lost..."

Kanon jumped up from the seat between her parents and practically bounced over to Silviu with a little brown box in her hands. "We spent nearly an hour deciding on which one to get you - there were so many kinds but we couldn't find one that was exactly like yours!"

"Shh, Kanon, let him open it first," Karin smiled and snuggled into Kenta.

Not quite sure what to expect, Silviu took the package and carefully unwrapped it. Who knew what this family had bought him, after all?

No way, they hadn't...

Silviu couldn't help but grin in delight at the two little journals in his hands, one with a plain black cover and the other with beautiful pictures of Japan at night on the front and back.

"The black one's blank, and the other has contact information in case you come back this way and need to rest somewhere." Kenta nodded at the journals. "We figured you'd want to leave soon."

"Was I that obvious about it?"

"YES!" Was the unanimous answer.

"Well I wasn't going to leave tonight!" Silviu laughed. "Let's spend one more night together, and then I'll figure out how to get back to Europe."

"Wait."

The approval of Silviu's decision suddenly died away as everyone looked at Anju, who'd remained pretty much silent until now.

"I will pay for Silviu's trip to Europe...if I may accompany him."

"No, Anju!"

"How would you get the money for such a thing!?"

"You still have suitors to see! We can't turn them down now!"

Anju shook her head and turned away until the hubbub died down. "One or two of the vampires that mother wanted me to marry have become acquaintances and know humans that can supply the money needed for a private flight to Europe. If big sister wishes, we can send other dhampirs that Silviu knows to her so she can turn them into vampires, thus enlarging the gene pool for our race and creating vampire contacts across the continent. If the humans and dhampirs that big sister bites become vampires that are able to reproduce, that would be an added bonus. Also, reestablishing connections with any surviving kin from our homeland has been the elders' greatest wish for a long time now, yes? And would it not be more beneficial if I were to choose a European vampire for a partner and tie the two groups together?"

Ren shot Silviu a touch-her-and-I-will-kill-you look, and was immediately smacked by Calera's slipper.

"..."

Elda suddenly started laughing hard enough that she nearly fell out of her chair. "Go ahead and go to Europe, but no one will want you there! There's nothing left for us thanks to those God-forsaken hunters!"

Silviu winced a little. He knew of a few dhampirs, but whether they would give up walking in the sun for heightened powers and immortality...

"I think they should try." Karin suddenly stood up, her hands clenched. "Nothing's wrong with trying! Kenta and I are proof of that - no one thought a human and a vampire could live happily together, but we did it! Mama, papa, let Anju try, and I'll bite anyone that wants to be bit!"

"Big sister..." Anju was genuinely touched. "Thank you."

Henry and Calera looked at each other, then Calera hesitantly nodded. "But if things don't work out, come back before you get hurt, okay?"

"Okay, mother."

* * *

_[Edited 6/8/15]_


	17. Chapter 17 - Epilogue

_Epilogue: About a Year and a Half Later..._

* * *

"Are you sure you don't mind Silviu and Anju staying in your house for the summer, mom?" Kenta asked. It had taken his mother a little while to get used to the fact that vampires existed, so he found it surprising that she was already offering to let a pair that she didn't know very well to stay in his late grandmother's home.

Fumio Usui smiled and shook her head. "Not at all. It seems pretty crowded at Karin's already, and they need their own space. Plus, mom's house is kind of empty with only me tending to it now. I'll be out most of the day anyway, which will let them sleep in peace," she winked knowingly, which made Kenta blush.

"Mom, don't even-"

"Oi, Usui, your spawn got into my room again," a tall, bony girl with a British accent and green highlights in her chin-length hair trotted down the stairs with a squirming baby in her arms.

Kenta frowned a little and the girl abruptly stopped halfway down the staircase. "Did Karou bother you, Iris?"

"I didn't give him a chance to." Iris shrugged and handed the little boy to Fumio. "The little bugger's good at opening doors though."

Karou giggled, then squealed happily when Kanon, his big sister, nearly tumbled downstairs.

"Iris, your webcam's beeping! It's gotta be Anju and Silviu calling!"

"It is?! Great! Bring everyone down and I'll get the lappie!" Iris's fangs flashed in the gloom as she leapt around Kanon and dashed upstairs.

_-Embarrassment!-*

"Anju, I got the webcam working again!" Silviu grinned and pointed to the bulky laptop they'd filched from a group of vampire hunters. "Iris should be picking up anytime now - come over and see your family."

"Breckenridge~!"

"Don't call me that, Iris!" Sivliu suddenly groaned, then smiled good-naturedly. "But you must be doing well if you want to mess with me so badly. How's everyone else doing?"

"Good, although the babies are a good encouragement for me to move out. I wanna..."

"I'm sorry..."

Anju wasn't jealous of the bond the two former dhampirs shared. Not at all. She just happened to push Silviu away from the laptop right then so she could see the screen better. "Your new clan awaits you, Iris. Rebuild your family once you return to England."

Light glinted off of Iris's nose piercing as she scowled in response. "Does a view of you that doesn't include the inside of your nose await me too, your highness?"

"Hey, hey, we're on the same side now!" Silviu started, then noticed someone in the background. "Oh hello, Henry!"

"HELLO. THERE. SILVIU. AND. ANJU. CAN. YOU. HEAR. ME. ALL. RIGHT?"

"Please do not yell, father..."

"SORR- Sorry, I guess this computer's microphone is better than I thought. But I miss talking to you face to face! When are you two coming home to visit?"

Anju and Silviu looked at each other. They had agreed to spend the summer in Japan, but they still hadn't decided when they wanted to leave England. Reestablishing a European vampire council was much easier said than done, and the pair still had a ton of work to do in Eastern Europe. Even Iris's clan could only help them do so much.

"Can we discuss that after family catch-up time?" Calera could be heard asking in the background - Iris refused to let her near the computer after Calera had accidentally downloaded a virus. "Anju still hasn't seen her new little niece..."

Silviu politely excused himself and left the room after giving Anju a few troubleshooting tips in case the webcam started acting up again. He already knew everything that the Maaka-Usui family was about to tell Anju - Iris sent him a very long email once every couple of days - and he knew that Anju missed her family and first language a lot even though she would never admit it.

Speaking of first languages, he needed to talk Anju into swinging by Slavic Europe so he could renew some old ties before returning to Japan...

"Silviu, your troubleshooting tips are not working." Anju paused, as if carefully considering something. "Is your hand all right?"

The vampire in question found himself gently rubbing the nub where his left pinky used to be. "Yeah..."

"I am sorry."

"It's okay...hey, are you done talking to your family?"

Anju shook her head. "There is a connection issue that I cannot fix."

"Want to ask Jo- never mind."

"Silviu." Anju frowned and gently turned the other vampire's face so she could look him in the eyes. "Johanna made her choice, and now she is dead. Let her go."

"No one deserves to die like that."

"You are a vampire, and yet you still think like a human. I guess that is why I still find you so...endearing."

Silviu couldn't help but blush a little; Anju rarely admitted that she was attracted to him. "Is that a compliment or are you making fun of me?"

"..."

Well, their relationship was still a little rocky, but he planned on waiting as long as she wanted to wait.

"Oh, right, the webcam!"

* * *

_Thanks for reading!_


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